First Funk

From: Corey Congilio's Blues Rhythms, Vol. 1

Here's another riff-based 12-bar blues example, introducing something we touched on earlier – funk! I'm using the A7/E shape that I'm so fond of for the I chord, and breaking up the fifth-string barre chords we used previously, adding the ♭7 note to the top of the chord shapes. I call this riff 'First Funk' because it's the first of our swing-funk feels. It's an acquired skill (and to some extent, an acquired taste), but to make it easier in your mind, try to imagine a blues shuffle like we've played many times before, but with a hip-hop feel. Keep practising, and try to bear these different 'feels' in mind as we move onward.

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